Double sole attachment for knitting machines



1 TI 3, 1935. w. G. WILSON DOUBLE SOLE ATTACHMENT FOR KNITTING MACHINES2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 19, 1.934

WILL/AM G. WILSON awe/whom Dec. 3, 1935. w 5 w so 2,022,836

DOUBLE SOLE ATTACHMENT FOR KNITTING MACHINES Filed Feb. 19, 1934 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Dec. 3, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DOUBLESOLE ATTACHMENT FOR KNITTING MACHINES Application February 19, 1934,Serial No. 712,049

3 Claims.

This invention relates to an attachment for all types of circularknitting machines and more especially to an attachment adapted to beassociiated with a model R. I. Scott & Williams, ribbed inverse knittingmachine so as to permit an additional strand of yarn to be placed intothe knitting of the sole of a stocking so as to provide a double solefor a ribbed stocking. On account of the peculiarity of a ribbed inverseknitting machine it has been heretofore impossible to place the doublesole in the stocking knitted by said machine on account of the fact thatby floating the doubled soled yarn across a portion of the course thefloating threads will become engaged with the dial needles of themachine and seriously damage the same.

It is an object of this invention to provide means whereby additionalyarn can be knitted into the sole of the foot portion of a ribbedstocking produced by a ribbed inverse knitting machine.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an additional yarncutter which may be attached to any circular knitting machine forcutting any additional yarn which may be fed to the needles.

It is still another object of this invention to provide an additionalyarn cutter for attachment to a circular knitting machine for severingan additional yarn fed to the knitting needles while the dial needlesare in operation.

While I have shown the invention attached to a ribbed inverse knittingmachine, I desire it to be understood that the invention may also beapplied to any circular knitting machine.

The invention, not only may be employed for placing a double sole in astocking but may be used for many other purposes, such as producingpattern effects and the like, as it is evident that a cam 43 could beemployed having several high places thereon for operating the scissorsill for each time the additional yarn is fed to and withdrawn, from theneedles.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objectswill appear as the description proceeds, when taken in connection withthe accompanying drawings, in which:--

Figure 1 is an elevation of the top portion of a ribbed inverse knittingmachine and showing my attachment applied thereto;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view taken through the nearest portionof the apparatus shown in Figure 1 along the line 2-2 in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional view looking downward along the line3-3 in Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a horizontal sectional view taken along the line 4-4 inFigure 1;

Figure 5 is an isometric View of a lever for operating the additionalyarn cutter and clamp which I have attached to the machine; 5

Figure 6 is an isometric view of the means for mounting a support forthe additional cutter and ipp Figure 7 is an outline view of a stockingmade in accordance with my invention. 1Q Referring more specifically tothe drawings,

the numeral Ill indicates a conventional latch ring bracket having pinll therein on which is pivotally mounted extension l2 for supporting thedial frame. The dial frame i3 is supported 15 by dial cap hia which issupported by cross-head 34. Extension l2 has pivotally mounted thereonas at IS a cutter lever it which has connected to the right hand endthereof a link H which operates conventional yarn cutter I8.

The knitting machine has a plurality of yarn fingers l9 and 20, only twobeing shown, but usually four or more of said yarn fingers are employed.Yarn finger l9 feeds double sole yarn 2|v to the needles and yarn finger20 feeds the heel and toe yarn 22 to the needles. There is also ofcourse similar yarn fingers, not shown,- for feeding the leg yarn andtop yarn to thee needles and of course in some machines some additionalfingers are employed for other purposes.

The yarn fingers are operated by push rods 23 which are operated by apattern drum, not shown. The yarn fingers are normally pulled towardsoperative position to feed the yarn to the needles by means of tensionsprings 24. A suitable yarn guide plate 26 is provided through which thevarious yarns are passed before being conducted to pass through the endsof the yarn feed fingers 2B and the like. The yarn feed fingers arepivotally mounted as at 21.

A conventional scissors has a movable blade 27a which is pivoted onscrew 28 and is frictionally forced against stationary cutter 29 bymeans of tension spring 30. The portion 30 is secured on boss 3! of thedial cap [3a. Boss 3! is 1'0- tatably penetrated by a shaft 32 andimmediately above boss 3| is loosely mounted a collar 33 and looselydisposed around shaft 32 is a cross-head 34 which in turn supports hub35 of gear 36, gear 36 being driven by suitable connections with theknitting machine for imparting rotating movement to shaft 32. Disposedimmediately above gear 36 are portions 3! and 38 of the sta tionaryframe, portion 31, having an upstanding projection 39 and having a plate49 secured to the upper end thereof which confines a plate il, connectedto the broken away projection on the right hand end of cross-head 34.Immediately below portion M there is fixed on shaft 32, a cam hub 43which has a high place M thereon.

It will also be noted that the machine is also provided with aconventional thread clamp 45, secured on top of dial cap I311 by meansof a screw 46. A cam ll is provided for guiding the yarn beneath clamp35.

The dial has a plurality of dial needles 49 mounted therein for engagingthe yarn fed to the needles, and performing the ribbing operation.

The yarn feeding fingers I9, 20 and the like,

are shown in partially raised or completely raised position, they havingtheir right hand end, in Figure 1, resting on throat plates 50 when theyare in lowermost position where they feed the yarn to the needles.

. The above described parts are conventional and are recited in order toenable any one skilled in the art to understand my invention as appliedto these conventional parts.

In order to properly feed the double sole yarn to the machine formanipulation by the attachment to be hereinafter described, I provide ayarn guide 68 having an eye 8! therein through which the double sol-eyarn 2| is passed on its way to the yarn feed finger it. This preventsthe yarn from becoming entangled with the other yarns being fed to theknitting machine. Secured to a cross-head 3 5 is a bracket 62 havinghorizontal portions 63 and '64 which are slotted to receive a link 65,the slots in portions 63 and 64 being closed by suitable plates 66 and61 to slidably confine link 65 in the slot. The lower end of link 65 hasfixedly secured thereon a scissors blade 68, by means of a shoulderscrew 69 and mounted for oscillation on shoulder screw 69, is a movablescissors blade 18 which is frictionally held against the fixed blade 68by means of a tension spring H. The movable scissors blade Ill has anupstanding portion '13 which penetrates a slot in the horizontal portion14 of a U-shaped lever having a vertically disposed portion 15, and anupper horizontally disposed portion 76 having a hole Tl therein which ispenetrated by a shoulder screw 18 which is mounted in portion 38 forloosely confining this peculiar U-shaped lever for operation. The upperhorizontal portion 76 of U-shaped lever has a cut away portion 18atherein which is adapted to be disposed in the same horizontal plane asthe higher place 44 of cam 43, the cutaway portion 78 being oppositeupwardly projecting portion 39 which prevents the portion 16 fromengaging upstanding portion 39 when portion 76 is oscillated by ridingover high point 44 of cam 63.

The link 55 is normally moved downwardly by means of a tension spring 80secured to pin 8! at its upper end and to pin 82 in vertically disposedportion 62. The upper end of link is pivotally connected to one end of alever 83 which is pivotally mounted as at 84 in a bracket 85 fixed on aprojecting portion of cross-head 34 and the right hand end of lever 83in Figure 2, projects beneath the right hand end of cutter lever It, asseen in Figure l. Cutter lever [B is normally held in elevated positionas at its right hand end in Figure 1, by means of a tension spring 86.The peculiar U-shaped lever shown inFigure 5 is caused to follow cam 43and high place 44 by means of a tension spring 81 fixed at one end topin 88 on horizontal portion 14 and at its other end to pin 89 incross-head 34. The fixed blade 68 has a heel portion 68a which serves asa clamp for the yarn when it is cut by the conventional cutter l8. 5During the knitting of the toe portion of the stocking and up to thepoint I in Figure 7, heel and toe yarn 22 is fed to the needles of theknitting machine, and during this time the right hand end of lever I6 israised, closing the con- 10 ventional cutter I8 and of course thisallows the right hand end of lever 83 in Figure 2, to be raised,lowering link 65. At this pointa yarn change is effected and yarn feedfinger 20 is elevated to withdraw the yarn 22 from the needles 15 andyarn feed finger I9 is lowered to feed yarn 2| to the latch needles. Thebody yarn not shown,

is also simultaneously fed to the latch needles and dial needles. Withthis operation conventional scissors it are moved to open and then 20closed position to sever the outgoing toe yarn and link 65 is lowered toclamp the end of the severed outgoing yarn at 68a. As scissors I8 ismoved to open position, this raises portion 68 V and allows the toe yarnto pass beneath portion 25 68 to be clamped by portion 68a as theconventional scissors close. Then it is seen that oscillation of lever'16 by high place 44 on cam 43, will open and close scissors IE1 at eachrevolution of the machine. At the same time the ad- 30 ditional bodyyarn. for knitting the foot portion of the stocking is fed to themachine by a yarn feed finger, not shown. This causes the body yarn tobe fed continuously to the latch and dial needles but upon eachrevolution of the 85 latch needle cylinder, the additional scissorswhich I have added to the machine, open and close to sever thereinforcing or double sole yarn. This operation continues until" point 2is reached at which time lever l B is again oscillated which raises link65 and lowers link I! to open the scissors'l8. The yarn change is ofcourse effected at the same time'to again feed the toe yarn to themachine while heel 3 is being knitted. a I

No other yarn is fed to the needles while the heel portion 3 is beingknitted. When point l has been reached, the toe yarn is withdrawn fromthe needles and a body yarn is fed at the same time the reinforcing yarn2| is again fed to the 60 needles along with the regular body yarn, andthe mechanism operates in the same manner as for the foot portion. Whenthe point 5 has been reached the yarn feed finger I9 is raised after thelast course of yarn 2| has been fed to the 55 needles and the body yarnis continued to be fed to the needles. Knitting continues with scissors[8 remaining in closed position throughout the knitting operation untilthe point 6 is reached. At point 6 a yarn change is eflected tosubstitute a top yarn for the body yarn.

During. normal operation of the machine, scissors l8 remains in closedposition of course, lowering link 65 supporting the auxiliary cutter,the conventional cutter opening only upon a yarn change.

It should be noted that when the extra sole yarn is placed in thestocking that the clipper 10 clips the yarn 2! at a predetermined point70 each time the cam 44 makes a rotation, thereby placing the extrathread only in a certain portion of each course of the stocking. Byclipping the yarn at each revolution, the stocking is knitted infinished form and there is no floated 7 yarn to be clipped after thestocking has been completed.

In the drawings and specification there has been set forth a preferredembodiment of the invention, and although specific terms are employed,they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only, and not forpurposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being set forth inthe appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a knitting machine having cylinder needles and dial needles, adial and a dial shaft, a plurality of yarn fingers for feeding yarn tothe cylinder needles, a yarn cutter disposed inside the needle circleand operable upon each yarn change, a second cutter disposed inside theneedle circle and operable upon each revolution of the needles, one ofthe yarn fingers having a splicing yarn therein to be fed to one-half ofthe cylinder needles to re-enforce one side of the stocking, a cam onthe dial shaft, means operable by said cam for opening and closing thesecond yarn cutter upon each revolution of the needles to cut theadditional yarn at the point where it is withdrawn from the needles, andmeans for normally holding the first cutter in closed position, andmeans operable by the means for holding the first yarn cutter in closedposition for allowing the second yarn cutter to assume a loweredposition to engage the splicing yarn when it is withdrawn from theneedles.

2. In a knitting machine having cylinder needles and dial needles, meansfor rotating the cylinder needles, a dial and a dial shaft for rotatingthe dial needles, a plurality of yarn fingers for feeding yarn to theneedles, a cutter on the dial for cutting the body yarn when it iswithdrawn from the needles, an additional yarn finger for feeding asplicing yarn to the needles for approximately a half-course tore-enforce the sole of a stocking, an additional yarn cutter mounted onthe dial for severing the splicing yarn when it is withdrawn from theneedles, a clamp for holding the splicing yarn until it is again fed fora half-course of knitting whereby no loose ends are floated to becomeentangled in the dial needles, means for raising the additional yarncutter and opening the first yarn cutter upon withdrawal of the bodyyarn and for lowering the additional cutter and closing the first cutterupon presentation of the body yarn to the needles, a cam on the dialshaft, and means driven thereby for opening and closing the additionalyarn cutter upon each revolution of the needles.

3. In a knitting machine having cylinder and dial needles, means forrevolving the cylinder needles, a dial shaft for revolving the dialneedles, a plurality of yarn fingers for feeding body yarn to theneedles, a yarn finger for feeding a splicing yarn to the needles, ayarn cutter mounted on the dial for cutting the body yarn when it iswithdrawn from the needles, means for normally holding the cutter inclosed position and for opening the same to receive the body yarn whenit is withdrawn from the needles, a second yarn cutter mounted on thedial and being vertically movable so the body yarn will pass thereunderwhen it is withdrawn from the needles, said second cutter having aportion adapted to engage the dial and clamp the body yarn after it hasbeen cut by the first cutter, a cam on the dial shaft for opening andclosing the second cutter upon each revolution of the needles, and meansoperable by the means for opening the first cutter for raising thesecond cutter so the withdrawn body yarn may pass thereunder.

WILLIAM Gr. WILSON.

